The Empty Throne
by Ante Down
Summary: Aizen's plan to stand in the heavens started many years ago. Some speculations on the origin and development of those plans.
1. Death Before Life

**Disclaimer: **Not mine.

I will also say this: the religious views expressed in this story are not necessarily my own. This was written without the intent to insult anyone's religious views.

**A/N: **I thought I'd have another, er, stab at writing Aizen. I'd like to go into his motivations in a bit more detail. This is a really new thing for me- speculating about past events with absolutely no evidence, writing something multichapter…ah well. The chapters will probably be short. Forgive me please.

Everything in italics is taken from chapter 178 of the manga.

**Chapter 1- Death Before Life**

"_Since the beginning, no one has ever stood in the heavens."_

Aizen Sousuke could remember his death quite clearly. The circumstances of it had been the very start of his path and the beginning of all his plans. It was highly ironic, really, how his death began the greater part of his life.

Not that it was an extraordinary life. He had been only vaguely aware of the existence of things such as Hollows and Shinigami, only seeing them as blurs on the edge of his perception. They made no real impact on his life and therefore accorded them little interest, instead concentrating on what he saw then as the bigger picture- the injustice of the world and its social systems. Aizen thought that given a few more years he might well have accomplished more.

As it was, he had been sitting at his kitchen table one night, reading some literature he had bought that afternoon by candlelight. He had always been interested in the different, and the ideas in these pamphlets certainly were. It was a shame the world could not accept different ideas as simply different, and not threatening. He had always tried to be innovative in his life.

One thing he wished he could have been liberal with was his marriage. His family had foisted _her_ on him the first chance they got. They had needed the money, true, but it had bought them her. An unimaginative and fanatical young woman who found she did not enjoy married life as much as her family had told her she would.

Aizen could hear her footsteps coming towards him. He sighed. He'd been avoiding her all day, and was not keen to deflect her probing questions about his activities now. His wife disapproved strongly of the things he read and the way he thought.

"What are you doing?" she asked from the doorway, chilly as ever. Aizen noticed her discourtesy, and attributed it to her hatred of him. The thought did not bother him in the slightest; the feeling was mutual.

"Reading. Return to your room. I shall be there momentarily."

It was then that he realised that she had moved to stand near him, something she never voluntarily did. Even when they were forced into the other's company, they preferred not to touch each other, stand close together, or even make eye contact. Curious, he turned to face her-

-and suddenly there was a knife in his stomach.

"I know what it is you do in the evenings," she said, her eyes burning with all the fire of her misguided religious zeal. "He who sits on the throne in Heaven will not judge you favourably."

Even now, Aizen had no fear. Not of her, not of the pain in his gut, not of death. He felt only a cold desire to hurt her, to shatter her complacent little world with the truth he was now absolutely sure of.

"There is nobody on the throne in Heaven."


	2. Setting the Stage

**Disclaimer: **Not mine.

**A/N: **Well. Chapter two. I am finding this younger and saner version of Aizen more difficult to write than the older psychopath we know and love hate. It's a bit of a transition chapter in terms of where Aizen's eventually headed.

**Chapter Two- Setting the Stage**

"_Neither you, nor I, or even God himself."_

The textbooks all said that shikai required dialogue and harmonisation with your zanpakuto. This was usually done through a discussion with it, or him, or her, in its own territory. Its territory was the mind of its wielder.

Aizen had always been just as curious about what his internal world would look like as what form his zanpakuto would take. He was somewhat more interested in the powers his shikai could give him, but most of his fellow students took a similar line about that.

He found that he wanted the power in his zanpakuto more than anything, so much it was almost a need. He desperately wanted to do what he could not do in life. To change the world had been his dream since he was a child. To fix all the poverty, end all the suffering. He could do it if he got strong enough. He knew he could.

This led to him finding himself in an ancient amphitheatre, mist drifting around him in the faint dawn light. In front of him, the rows of seats stretched up into the distance. Turning, he saw that the stage he was standing on ended in a sheer wall of white stone. And when he turned again to face the audience section, he found that he did indeed have an audience.

Himself.

He was not scared. He was never scared. But this was important, and this was something that could not be taught. This being was part of his power, and should be treated with caution.

"Who are you?"

The other him spoke the same words at the same time.

"Why are you here?"

And again.

"What's going on?"

"Can you help me?"

"What do you want from me?"

The echoes from their questions bounced around the eternal amphitheatre, until in a rare moment of complete frustration, Aizen shouted "Why won't you answer me?"

"…you answer me…" rebounded off the hard walls of the inner world.

Realisation came quickly to Aizen.

"You want me to answer you." And the spirit of his zanpakuto did not speak with him.

"I am Aizen Sousuke. You can help me. I am trying to convince you to trust me with your power."

Aizen deliberately left the most important question for last, wanting time to think about it. In the end, it took him a good hour of deep thought to finally articulate an answer to his zanpakuto.

"I want to change things. I want the power to change things."

And he knew that his zanpakuto would find this acceptable before he even responded.

"I know," the other-him said, and his appearance changed to that of Aizen wearing the uniform of a rank and file Shinigami instead of his own student uniform.

"I want you to be honest with me. I can help you. What is going on, as you put it, is the process of gaining shikai. I am here because I am a part of your power." He paused, saving his important answer just as Aizen had saved his. "My name is Kyouka Suigetsu."

As one, they bowed. "Thank you, Kyouka Suigetsu," Aizen said. "I hope to speak to you again soon."

"Thank you, Aizen Sousuke. I hope to be of assistance to you in your quest."

He smiled. "You cannot possibly be a hindrance."

He really didn't know what he would have done without Kyouka's power. It was the basis of all his plans. Shikai alone could not give him the power to change the world, but he often thought that it had put him several steps closer.


	3. Larger Games

**Disclaimer: **Not mine.

**A/N: **Second last part, everyone. I'm a bit happier with this chapter, actually. Hopefully I'll have the final part up in a few days. Reviews much appreciated.

**Chapter Three- Larger Games**

"_But that emptiness in the throne of heaven will be filled from this day forth."_

Aizen preferred to communicate with his zanpakuto at night, when he could be sure that nobody would overhear. Materialising Kyouka Suigetsu fully had its drawbacks. But it was absolutely necessary. Before any of his plans could be put into action, he had to be a Captain, and nobody could attain that rank without bankai.

Forcing his zanpakuto into submission was proving difficult, though. Close-mouthed as always, he had refused to set any terms, or any goal for him to work towards. It was like obtaining his shikai all over again. Another riddle to be solved. In the meantime, he enjoyed their games of go and their sparring matches, when he could find the space and privacy for them.

This night he had only the privacy, so go it would have to be. He called for Kyouka from his internal world, and his double appeared across the table from him, hand already moving towards the black stones. "Have you thought any further on obtaining bankai, Aizen?" he asked, placing a stone on the board.

"Of course. The trick still eludes me," he replied.

"You are certainly taking your time about it. And your move, too."

Aizen frowned and set down a stone of his own. "I have won in both our sparring sessions and in our games. I don't understand why I still cannot get what I want from you."

"It's because we're not just playing at swords or go, my friend."

There was nothing Aizen could say to that.

Kyouka Suigetsu restarted their conversation. "How has life been for you since you last found the time to talk to me? Your position certainly keeps you busy, if you can only summon me once a month."

Aizen kept up a steady stream of talk from then on. He found it distracted his zanpakuto from the intricacies of the board game they played. And the friendship they had developed over the past years had strengthened his shikai and his control over it greatly.

Eventually the game drew to a close. "You've won the game again tonight," sighed Kyouka. "Maybe tomorrow you'll win for real."

And he vanished as if he had never been there at all.

It was Aizen's turn to sigh, as he reached for his borrowed text on obtaining bankai. Knowledge was power, and he did not intend to stay at this level of power for much longer. His drive for heaven had been temporarily halted for twelve years, just because he could not figure out the rules his zanpakuto played by.

Knowledge was power. It had been a rule he lived by in life. He wondered idly if Kyouka existed by it too.

That idle thought sparked a more serious mood in Aizen, as he realised that for years he had given his zanpakuto all the knowledge he had himself. He had always followed his zanpakuto's wish that Aizen be totally honest with him.

He had been tricked from the very start, he realised. From the moment he had gained his shikai, he had allowed his zanpakuto to set the terms of their relationship, on a deeper level than board games and swordfighting.

Therefore, to obtain his bankai, he would need to first withhold information from Kyouka Suigetsu. He could order the zanpakuto to give him the power he required, and back it up by defeating him in any contest he chose. It was simply about control on multiple levels.

If he were to get to heaven he would need to be able to do this anyway. He might as well start with the being that existed within his own soul.

The next night, Aizen summoned the materialisation of his zanpakuto again. This time, Aizen was the first to reach for the black stones, and to place one on the board.

The night after that, Aizen made an effort to leave the Seireitei in order to test out his bankai.

He returned to his rooms feeling happier than he had ever been. Bankai had given him such power, and he was yet to master it. With his power, and with planning, he could truly do anything. Anything. It was all within his grasp, if he planned for it properly.

It was the first time he considered taking the throne in heaven. And he had never felt more complete in his existence.


	4. How High I Have Fallen

**Disclaimer: **Not mine.

**A/N: **Ah, sorry I took so long to update. Minor schoolwork panic. You know how it is. Anyway- final chapter here. Hope you enjoy it and please review. I actually do update faster with more reviews. Must be a motivation thing.

**Chapter Four- How High I Have Fallen**

"_I will be the one to stand in the heavens."_

He stood on Soukyoku Hill, surrounded by his most powerful enemies, swords at the throats of his allies. There was even a sword at his own throat, and another foe preventing him from even drawing his sword.

He had never felt so close to the throne of heaven.

To be in an impossible situation, to be facing death, imprisonment, humiliation, and to still have total control over his life, the lives of his allies, and indirectly, the lives of his enemies. Because he could do the impossible. Or what should have been impossible.

He could escape, with or without Gin and Tousen, as he chose. His allies in Hueco Mundo would come to his unspoken signal. Aizen knew this without a flicker of uncertainty.

And his enemies would be left standing in the dust, in the wreckage of the existence they had known before, helpless. They would be forced to watch as he and his chosen ascended to another place, completely untouchable. They would be forced to watch as he left to start a war that would bring their comfortable lives down around their ears.

They would be powerless. Powerless, because they could not match his power.

He had a sword to his throat, but he was in complete control.

Yes, this was a taste of godhood.

But the merest taste.

Aizen smiled, and gave the signal. Instantly the sword was removed from his throat, as if he had been the one to give the command for withdrawal. Similarly, Gin and Tousen had been released.

He listened with faint disgust as Gin told that ridiculous woman of his that he would have liked it if she had bound him longer. The need to be bound had always been a part of Gin's character. It inspired a certain amount of distaste in Aizen, but he was more than willing to put up with it in exchange for the man's highly useful service.

As Tousen said his chilly farewells to Komamura, Aizen reflected that the man was blind in more ways than one. He had come o close to comprehending the nature of Aizen's mission, but did not allow himself to perceive what it was Aizen wanted.

Tousen perceived justice very well. But he refused to understand power and the need for it.

And now it came time for Aizen to say his own goodbyes, in the form of the condemnation of others. Ah, and the spokesman stepped forth.

"…you even joined forces with the Menos…for what?"

Ukitake. It would be. Ukitake, who knew full well the power he wielded and chose not to exploit it. Ukitake, who he had learned so much from. He would not be at all surprised if Ukitake could understand his manipulations more than most.

After all, Ukitake commanded his division and more through the respect and love he had won. Observing Ukitake had provided him with the means to use Hinamori, Kira, Ichimaru, the whole of Soul Society.

"How low you have fallen, Aizen!"

But Ukitake was a distant master. As remote as the god that did not use his throne, and hence as powerless.

There were certainly some interesting people among his colleagues. Mortal limitation could be so intriguing. He would have to put some thought into this. It could certainly be exploited, and he did not want subjects he could not control. To be surrounded only by equals would defeat the purpose entirely.

He had no equals. And he must establish this right from the outset.

If he intended to rule, he would have to explain his rulings at times.

Aizen considered briefly. This charge would be the issue behind his rule. The accusation of unethical behaviour, immorality. Certainly a worthy one to be answered.

Besides, there was no wrong in playing with toys.

"_Don't be so arrogant, Ukitake."_


End file.
